1. Technical Field
The present disclosure is directed to systems/methods for delivery and control of medications for patient use and other purposes (e.g., clinical trials) and, more particularly, to dispenser-based systems that facilitate access to and use of individually packaged sets of medications (e.g., pills, tablets and the like), and associated control functionalities that monitor and communicate the status/inventory of medications associated with the dispenser-based system.
2. Background Art
The prior art includes well established forms of medication packaging known as unit-and/or multi-dose strip medication packaging. The noted approach to medication packaging permits individualized/customized sets of medications to be combined and delivered to patients, thereby enhancing the efficiency and reliability of medication use, e.g., for patients who are required to ingest a plurality of medications on a routine basis.
Despite the development and adoption of unit-/multi-dose modalities for packaging of medications for use by patients, a need remains for improved medication delivery systems that facilitate, inter alia, (i) storage of and access to individual medication packages, (ii) automatic monitoring and/or transmission of medication inventory information, (iii) reminders/cues for improved medication adherence, and (iv) child-resistant storage of packaged medications.
More particularly, it is noted that prior art motorized dispensing systems are dependent on the motorized mechanism to monitor dispensing status. This dependence on the motorized mechanism significantly limits the flexibility of the monitoring functionality and restricts the ability of a system user to access medications on an immediate and/or intermittent basis, i.e., independent of the scheduled dispensing schedule, without a potentially cumbersome and multi-step system interaction. Indeed, prior art dispensing systems are generally rigid and specific in the requirements imposed upon users to access medication doses, often requiring careful alignment of the dispensing strip with the dispensing apparatus to ensure proper monitoring of the dosing status, etc. Prior art systems do not permit the user to see and/or access medication doses on an as-desired basis. Still further, prior art systems generally impose a frustrating time delay from the point that the user seeks to separate a medication dose from the system and the time when such medication dose is released to the user, and require the user to affirmatively signal that the user has completed his/her interaction with the dosing system before monitoring functionality associated with the prior art dosing system is prompted to perform/update its dispensing status.
These and other limitations and shortcomings of the prior art are advantageously addressed and overcome by the disclosed systems and methods.